Erin, once a Category 5 hurricane over the weekend that more than doubled wind speed to nearly 160 mph, on Monday morning remained on a path to miss landfall of the United States though not without forcing evacuations in North Carolina.

If a storm is a Category 3, 4 or 5, it is deemed a "major" hurricane due to the potential for "significant loss of life and damage," the National Hurricane Center says. Hurricanes that fall into categories 1 or 2 are still considered dangerous, the center says.

The longstanding hurricane rating system, the Saffir-Simpson Scale, only takes into account sustained wind speeds and not the full devastating impact of a hurricane.

How does the Saffir-Simpson scale work? The scale has five categories ranging from Category 1 — with winds from 74 mph to 95 mph to Category 5 — with sustained winds in excess of 155 mph.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — As hurricane season is quickly approaching, let’s remind you about the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. This scale is designed to categorize hurricanes based on wind speed ...

Simpson assigned a range of wind speeds and storm surges for each category, and the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale was born. The NHC released the scale to the public in 1973 and began ...

Travelers on the Outer Banks should be aware of possible disruptions next week caused by Hurricane Erin as it intensified into a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale overnight,